Young people living in the South, where rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections such as HIV are higher than in any other region of the country, have the worst sexual health in the nation, according to the study out last week.

The report "Sexual Health of Young People in the U.S. South: Challenges and Opportunities" was released by Auburn University at Montgomery’s Center for Demographic Research, and focuses on sexual health in 10 Southern states including Alabama and Mississippi.

"Oh, my. You are SO wrong. I am a pediatrician and see these families in my office every day. Guess what? The parents DO work. Sometimes at more than one poorly paying job apiece, and without health insurance benefits.

"The amount of money given by state assistance is a pittance and doesn't pay a fraction of the cost of children -- certainly not enough to motivate childbearing.

"Education is critical and it takes time than the checkup I get with the teens once a year, because they are also being surrounded by "counter-education" and misinformation the rest of the time.

"You would be amazed some of the things they tell me teachers have told them (or to be fair, how they heard it) -- that if they use oral contraceptives, they will get "immune" and not be able to have children later, for instance. That condoms don't really help much.

"Many teens feel very strongly that they will NOT have sex, and they believe the abstinence only route will work.

"The problem is that the teen brain is not fully developed, and impulse decision making is particularly immature -- at the point of contact, all their plans go straight out the window.

"Not every time, but it only takes once! Do they have a condom with them, at the time? Of course not, because they thought they weren't going to do it. Then they are ashamed to tell anyone. And if they don't happen to get pregnant that time, it makes them more likely to think it won't happen the next go round.

"We have really failed them. What we should be teaching them is strategies to delay sex AND realistic backup plans in case those strategies fail.

"We need to be up front with them that their brains aren't finished developing and may not work the way they think they will at all times. They need to repeatedly and frequently hear this, so it will be right there at the front of their minds in the heat of the moment, not a single instruction once a year from the doctor."